


the deerly beloved

by bylass



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M, Post-Game(s), Post-Time Skip, claude's face appreciation, everyone's cute and nosy about their enigmatic professor and house leader, golden deer house discusses byleth/claude
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-08-10 17:07:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20138959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bylass/pseuds/bylass
Summary: Byleth and Claude were having a moment alone the garden, if you didn't count the seven others crammed around the tiny window trying to get a peek at them.





	the deerly beloved

Hilda rallied the Golden Deer group over to look out the window. They'd been celebrating in the dining hall with the other soldiers, a last hurrah before people began going their separate ways now that Nemesis was defeated. But Hilda noticed, after much of the crowd had gone sleepy with drink, that two of the most important attendees were conspicuously missing.  
  
"I think," she had said excitedly when she found them, "the professor and Claude are going to _kiss_."  
  
Outside in the garden, in a nestle of hedges infamous for being a clandestine meeting spot, Byleth and Claude were certainly _there_ and certainly _alone_. Side-by-side on the garden bench—not on the bench _seat_, of course, that would be too conventional for the likes of their cartwheeling former house leader—but sitting on the back with feet on the seat. The stars glittered overhead and the gardenias were in pale-white bloom. Crickets kept their chirping low. It was picturesquely romantic.  
  
Whether they were about to kiss, well_—_  
  
"They're just having a talk, Hilda." Lorenz squinted into the darkness. He and Leonie knocked heads as they both tried to use their height in order to get the best view. "I'm certain they have plenty to discuss, what with Claude leaving to Almyra on such short notice."  
  
Lysithea had snuck her way up front and capitalized on the entire windowsill to rest her chin on, giant grin on her face. "Didn't you see them earlier, though? They were wearing _rings_."  
  
He shrugged. "Others could have given rings to them." People flocked to marry heroes; it wasn't why Lorenz agreed to fight, but it was a perk just the same.  
  
"Both of them? At the same time? What are the chances?"  
  
Leonie hummed. "They'd _say_ something about it though, you think?"  
  
"The professor never says _anything_—"  
  
"But even _Claude_ didn't say anything."  
  
"I have to agree with Leonie." Lorenz shook his head. "He has secrets, but this wouldn't be one of them. You couldn't shut the man up if you locked him in a tomb. Strange match, regardless… the professor is so serious and Claude is… himself."  
  
Hilda scoffed, one elbow on the sill next to Lysithea, the two of them rolling their eyes at the utter obliviousness of everyone else present. "Have you _seen_ his face whenever she's around?"  
  
Lorenz arched a manicured brow. "And why are _you_ looking at Claude's face?"  
  
"As I said, have you _seen?_ His _face?_ Ignatz, you know beauty when you see it. You know what I'm talking about, right?"  
  
"U-um... he has excellent bone structure," Ignatz stammered. He was rather enraptured by the whole scene in the garden; it was framed exceedingly well through the window, like one of those illustrations you might find in a book of fables.  
  
"Exactly. A girl can admire a fine jawline, can't she? Anyway. Look at the professor—she's practically blushing."  
  
It was hard to tell in the dim light, but Byleth was certainly smiling as Claude said something. She absently fiddled with the hem of those impractical sleeves that hid a multitude of weapons underneath—not exactly a blushing young maiden, but nervous all the same.  
  
Even Lorenz's eyes went wide. "What was he saying?"  
  
"If you were _quiet_ maybe we would've heard!" Lysithea hissed.  
  
"This is… inappropriate," he muttered. But he didn't look away either.  
  
They listened intently.  
  
"…I'll send letters every week—every day," they heard Claude say. "I'll go through the entire flock of messenger birds if I have to. And hey, it means Nader can't use them, then he can't bother _me _with so many letters…"  
  
"If I end up with an aviary of Almyran birds..." That rare smile of hers grew wider. "I'm not great at correspondence, but I'll try."  
  
"Write me Alois's awful pun of the day. Or what trouble Cyril gets into once all the girls outside Garrag Mach catch a glimpse of him. He's heading with you to Derdriu, right? Keep him safe. I know he's supposed to be protecting _you_ but…"  
  
"Worry about yourself, Claude."  
  
"I am!" Claude stretched casually, arms behind his head, then one of those arms drifted back down around Byleth's shoulders. "If Fódlan isn't safe, where am I supposed to visit when I need to escape my duties?" A flicker of unease passed over Byleth's face, and he sobered. "Hey... I'll be careful. But I'd be lying if I said I'm not tempted to cut a few corners if it means I can come back to you sooner."

"I know you won't. You've come this far."

"Yeah, with _you _by my side... how is it that I miss you already?"  
  
On the dining hall side of the window, Marianne sighed dreamily. "It is rude to pry… but they look sweet talking to each other…" Byleth and Claude often bantered during the strategy meetings, Claude always pressing for a reaction from the taciturn professor. He'd try "outrageous" suggestions—that he not-so-secretly thought were reasonable—to outright flattery.  
  
"_Have I mentioned your hair... looks like starlight?_" Claude once said to Byleth in full view of everyone else, even daring to reach out to take a strand. Byleth stared slyly for only for a second before she resumed scolding him for the riskiness of the infiltration plan. She told him that if he wanted to be clever, he needed to not _also_ keep risking the trust of the Alliance lords; Lorenz has spoken to her multiple times about it and frankly, had a point.  
  
But in the garden, they looked different in their secret intimacy. Sillier and younger, as if less touched by war, their expressions open to possibility as they gazed up at the night sky; these sides of themselves they showed to no one else. It would be embarrassing to. Vulnerable. Their fingers brushed like a test of boundaries, gentle as one would a entreat a bird; it was like they were getting to know each other in a new language.  
  
Even Leonie—rather unfussed with the intricacies of romance unless there was gold to be made from it—could see it. "If Claude breaks her heart, I'll… I'll break _him_."  
  
Rapahel was listening to the side of the window, not wanting to block anyone's view; besides, he was more preoccupied with polishing off his sixth plate of food. "You don't think he's being genuine?"  
  
"I don't know! Do _you_ know what's going on in his head half the time?" She rubbed her chin. "Although now that I think about it, maybe the professor will break _his_ heart. I mean, not on purpose, but—you know, I don't know what's going on in _her_ head half the time either."  
  
"Claude _would_ love a woman of mystery," Lysithea scoffed. Plus, Scared Claude was Claude at his cutest, and therefore most tolerable; just don't tell him that or he'd get back at you by saying there were _ghosts_ in your _cake_. Which was ridiculous… after Lysithea calmed down and thought about it for a good half-hour.  
  
"It's only fair after what he inflicts upon us," Lorenz grumbled.  
  
It was natural to be scared of the future. The moment was as fragile as the new kingdom. Who knew when any of them would see each other again? Some of them were traveling together or had plans to meet up in the future; but others had dreams that took them far away, and there was much to accomplish in the aftermath of war.

On the bench, Byleth shifted closer to Claude. She ran a thumb over the glinting silver ring on his finger. The other side of the window glass went as silent as a held breath as Claude twined their hands together and she tipped her head up toward him.  
  
Byleth's gaze drifted… to the dining room window.  
  
Everyone screeched.  
  
Lysithea launched herself backwards, knocking into Ignatz behind her, who in turn knocked Leonie and Lorenz off their feet, who fell atop Hilda and Marianne. Raphael startled, whirling toward the window with a drumstick in his mouth.  
  
"What's going on? They kiss?"

"They're _looking _at us!"

"They're looking at—_ooh_ they're _looking at us!_"  
  
"Ugh, they were _about_ to kiss!" Hilda lay flat on the ground, arms crossed, as everyone else scrambled off in a panic. "I'm never telling you guys anything exciting again!"

* * *

  
  
Claude glanced over his shoulder at the now-empty window. "How long were they there?"  
  
Byleth leaned into the crook of his neck and shrugged. "A few minutes? It might teach them not to slack off on their stealth training."  
  
"Scheming? Now? You don't have to try to impress me. I think we're beyond that." He edged his grin closer. "We are beyond that, right? Because if not, I have a few tricks up my sleeve _mmph_—"  
  
Byleth shut Claude up, a supposedly impossible feat that was unfairly easy as her lips captured his. A shame that no one was around to witness it.

**Author's Note:**

> claude stole the starlight line from howl pendragon of moving castle fame
> 
> now direct your eyes at amazing art of this scene by zeeohyi ( [@twitter](https://twitter.com/zeeohyi/status/1176398666526945280) / [@tumblr](https://zeeohyi.tumblr.com/post/187897493330/ugh-they-were-about-to-kiss-from-the-deerly) ) and die of cute!!!  
and a FOLLOWUP PIECE to make sure you're dead ( [@twitter](https://twitter.com/zeeohyi/status/1177102080835637248) / [@tumblr](https://zeeohyi.tumblr.com/post/187957081000/sike-that-wasnt-the-only-thing-i-arted-from-the) )


End file.
